I've been keeping an eye on this one for a while, waiting for it go on sale and it's on sale on Steam this weekend at 33% off ($40 USD). It reminds me of Eve Online without the spreadsheets or an updated Vendetta Online. The universe is an accurate representation of the Milky Way with realistic distances. It's best played with a flightstick that has a throttle slider and rudder like the Logitech Extreme3D Pro, but a gamepad should work fine. Landing and docking requires all six axes and delicate throttle control to achieve.

It has the option for open play w/ PvP or solo/private group play, but I think the most interesting part of it is the Powerplay system. Powerplay has you pledging allegiance to individual factions (human government leaders) and completing tasks to maintain, expand, or undermine the control that your faction has over individual systems and the surrounding 15 systems which it can "exploit".

Bought it over the weekend for about $15 on steam. I've been playing through the training missions and watching tutorial videos for the last couple days, it seems pretty complicated, but I think it'll be fun. I've always like space combat sims, I get the itch to play Vendetta often, but I didn't want to commit to a subscription...